Just a few reasons why you NEED to go to Japan.

The problem with their headphone demo rigs is, they now tie down the cables and they are connected to a distribution box amp playing crappy music in a store that is very noisy, with not only the drone of home theatre systems and other things, but the Bic Camera jingle being constantly played.  But yeah, electronics stores here are crazy.

I saw options like jazz and classical,weren't they music options.

I was surprised the first time I went, but just as Curra above, says, the store is too loud, the music is too loud, and the music isn't yours. Are there EQ's applied? It is a neat idea, but not a great way to really 'hear' the headphone you want to buy. 

In Seoul, #Apple store (with the hash mark) sells lots of high end phones that you can at least plug in to your amp/DAP to test with your own music. I tis loud and ... ew... lots of ear wax on the high end Shure and Victor earphones, but it is cool.

There is, thankfully, a high-end headphone table in the local Best Electric (pics in the W1000X thread).  However, for some reason, every time I try headphones there, I'm disappointed, despite the rig being a Luxman P-1u and Yamaha SACD player. I suspect not just the noise, but very noisy power in the building from all the electronics.

I need to go to Japan. 

Headphones are a plus too. :)

My plan is to go work there in approx two years once I get some experience and my life sorted out. This is a big plus.

I'm surprised they have boxes of fairly expensive headphones just sitting on the shelves for purchase.  Ample opportunity to open boxes and swap things around or damage them while handling them. 

Yeah! I sure would not mind going there. :)

Lot of these types of store in Korea as well.  And yeah, the headphones/cables are typically mangled up and the amping/source material isn't ideal most of the time (and apparently they have big problems with theft; now it's hard to demo them for more than a few minutes without the employees keeping an eye on you like a hawk).  But at least you can try them out to get a good idea of what their general signature is.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo 

 

In Seoul, #Apple store (with the hash mark) sells lots of high end phones that you can at least plug in to your amp/DAP to test with your own music. I tis loud and ... ew... lots of ear wax on the high end Shure and Victor earphones, but it is cool.

Yeah, I found this extremely surprising how they don't even clean the eartips on the demos (at Bay & Bloor they at least clean the eartips when you ask to demo)... It was the main reason why I didn't even bother trying out the IEM's even though there were a lot out there.  But loved trying out the different Denon and Phiaton headphones there.

I would love to visit some time.  Even though the conditions are night ideal, it beats not being able to listen at all in my opinion 

We should have our next Canjam in Japan! I've always wanted to go there.

That's pretty awesome.

I wish I had a local store in the suburb of Toronto I live in that had a demo selection like that. There is Bay and Bloor Radio, as mentioned above, but I not only hate going downtown but it takes a while to get there just to demo headphones and hang out in a store for half an hour.

I'd love to have a Canjam here in Fukuoka, as we're only about 6-8 hours from most of Asia and only across the water from Korea.